In the past couple of years, I have tried to stay away from this narrative when working with schools. First of all, the people that are in most need of hearing this message, don’t (politicians), and the people who do hear it most often (educators) are the ones making miracles happen in classrooms daily.

It is not to say that there aren’t problems in education, but I love this Dylan Wiliam quote and have tried to shift my mindset toward it:

By looking for, and starting with a culture that builds on strengths and what we do right, you are more likely to have a group of people that feel valued.

I’m often asked if I was to go back into a school as a principal, what would I change first. My answer is “nothing.” The first thing I would do now is to create a spreadsheet with every single staff member’s name. To the right of that column I would write the word “Strength.” Until I can identify the strength in every person in that building, nothing changes. Not only do I have to identify it, but the people I am serving would have to know that I know it. Then we can move forward and try some new ideas striving toward better opportunities for our students. If I change things without knowing and showing the value of the people I serve, they feel like they are trying to be “fixed” and nobody wants to feel that way. If people know they are valued, then it feels like we are trying to help them get better and grow. People will move a lot further with the second option.

This culture we create for our staff is also essential because it trickles down to our students. I have seen too often “response to intervention” meetings where adults focus on what is wrong with the student instead of what is right. How excited would you be to come to an environment every single day where that was the case? Unfortunately, this is a learned strategy that is passed on through practice in how many educators are treated within the school environments, individually and collectively.

If we want educators and students to be excited to come to school each day, we have to create an environment where they feel valued. Feeling valued doesn’t mean we don’t have flaws and weaknesses; it is just that we do not start from that point.

11 Comments

Thank you for sharing the idea of building from strengths-it seems such an easy way to begin yet so many don’t. Now that I’ve read this, I’m inspired and thought of this quote, “Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.”
Maya Angelou
Poet, Dancer, Producer, Playwright, Director, Author
Thanks for inspiring me and the readers here to do better as we build from strengths…

This article is an example of a simple idea that can transform the culture in our schools/divisions and improve teacher efficacy. Thanks for this George. We have one of the most remarkable heterogenous public education systems in the world. Using an appreciative inquiry approach shouldn’t be to hard, because as you say, our teachers are performing miracles in the classroom everyday.
P.S. I am going to make myself one of those charts today.

Thanks for this post! I couldn’t agree more, in fact, the Dylan William quote you chose is a part of my email signature. Like an Olympic athlete, we should always be looking for ways to grow and improve our skill set. It has nothing to do with not already being good enough, or we wouldn’t be where we are.

Thanks for this post, George. It’s all about reframing our thinking. It’s essential to think from a “sea of strengths” model. Think about the words we use when talking about students on the Autism Spectrum. We often hear words like “perseverations,” and “obsessions,” words with strong negative connotations. When we instead focus on strengths, we are actually talking about “fascinations” and “interests.” Isn’t that a better way to think about the students in our classrooms?

This makes me think of a quote from
I’m not sure, please feel free to share his name if you go. I feel it’s from a man
But his name escapes me.
Anyway here it is;
No one cares how much you know, until they know how much you care!

Wishing I could bottle your transformational thinking to give to the amazing #EduHeroes who work so hard each and every day at our school for our kids only to ‘leave’ most days feeling discouraged and depleted. What needs to be ‘fixed’ always seems to outweigh the ‘what’s going well’ (strengths) even though every single ‘boot’ on campus is giving their all to make the impossible possible. Thanks for the inspire and for your dedication to helping us shift our thinking and our mindsets!

A very wise teacher mentor told me that I’m not a real teacher until I can name 10 things about every student that directly contributes to their ability to learn and use that knowledge wisely to craft a secure and effective learning space.

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About Me

I am a learner, educator, and Innovative Teaching, Learning, and Leadership consultant. I am also the author of "The Innovator's Mindset". I believe we need to inspire our kids to follow their passions, while letting them inspire us to do the same.